Chapter 24

"He shits you not." Gran added with amusement on her face.

Mom's face drained to white and right there, where everyone stood in a circle and fainted--well..that's what I thought she would do. Instead, she swung her coiled fist at Bennett, hitting him square in the nose and sending the burly man leaning backwards.

Bennett didn't expect it; his eyes widened on impact. Mom's knuckles reddened and I could just imagine the pain she was in for punching him. It was like hitting a bolder-hard as stone. Before he could fall gracelessly, Bennett expanded his stance to keep a firm balance with the ground. A growl emitted from the back of his throat and his grip tightened around mom's small wrist, weakening her fist.

Mom winced, but she didn't falter from the menacing gaze Bennett had on her. The two were on a head on collision, heading for disaster.

"You don't tell me stuff like that concerning my son! Dumb jokes can get people like you killed!"

Bennett sneered. "Threatening me as if you could harm a single piece of hair on my head. That takes guts and most people here don't have that. If you weren't Celeste's mother, you wouldn't be here right now breathing."

Mom's brow arched up. "Egotistical son of a-

"Mom." I stopped her. "He's telling the truth...Trent is a werewolf."

She scowled and blew out a frustrated sigh, than shook her head as if not believing it. "No...you." She pointed at Bennett. "You did something to my children. I'm going to find out what it is and report you to the police. You're going to face grave charges for kidnaping, assault and whatever the hell I can dig up to keep you in bars for the rest of your life."

"Go ahead, you can't even leave my territory." Bennett challenged.

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Charlotte, tell her about Trent." Maybe she could make mom believe.

She hesitantly placed herself in front of our mother. "They are telling the truth mom. Trent really is a werewolf. I saw him transform into a huge wolf right in front of me. It happened last night."

"I don't believe this." Mom spat.

"Believe it." Gran wrapped her arm around Charlotte's and stood right next to her sending mom a stern look. "I've told you beasts are real. But you never believed me and now your children are very much a part of this world whether you like it or not. Accept this and it would be easier for you to stay being a part of their lives."

"I'm dreaming aren't I? This is a nightmare and when I wake up, everything will be back to normal." Mom closed her eyes and took steady deep breaths. "There won't be you or that annoying man." Bennett flinched. "Charlotte and Trent will be arguing about something ridiculous and my sweet Celeste will have dinner ready for me to us to eat so that I can prepare for my night shift at the hospital."

"What about me, where do I fit into your dream?" Gran mumbled.

Mom's eyes opened abruptly and she looks at each person with shock. "This isn't a dream." She points out the obvious.

Bennett rolls his eyes. "This is absurd. I have so much to deal with, especially with that rogue in my territory."

Charlotte looks on concerned. "Mom, this is real."

"Pinch me!" Mom grabs Charlotte's hand and nears it to her forearm.

Bennett growls. "For the love of-Come here!"

He grabs her arm and drags her behind him as he stalks down the hall. Mom repeatedly voices out the pain caused by his grasp, which was proof enough that she wasn't dreaming, but Bennett continued to tow her to the destination his mind as set on.

I desperately didn't want to leave Greyson, but neither did I want to leave my mom alone with Bennett. Gran and Charlotte were already off right behind Bennett.

"Don't worry. I'll watch him. If he wakes up, I'll call you immediately." I turned around and saw Laura.

I nodded without saying a word and took one last glance at the door that stood in between me and Greyson.

I'll be back.

Running, I caught up to Bennett and my mom. He had taken us to the basement floor-the dungeon.

"Where are you taking me?" mom protested.

"What are you doing?" I speed to his side and grasped his arm.

"I'm reuniting her with her son." He said as if it were no big deal.

"I thought newly turned werewolves are not allowed to get close contact with anyone until they were completely in control of their wolves?"

He unlatched the door of the dungeon. "If this is the only way to get her to believe then we don't have any other choice."

"She could get hurt!"

Charlotte grasped mom's other arm. "Please don't do this! I don't want my brother to feel guilty if he accidently hurts our mom."

Bennett placed a gentle hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "I would never allow anyone getting gravely hurt on my watch. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." He turned his head towards the raising stairs. "Vincent, I know you are hovering over the stairs. Come over here!"

In a blink, Vincent was right next to us, gloweringly staring at Bennett's hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "Alpha."

"Don't let these three interrupt what I'm about to do."

What does he intend to do?

"Yes sir."

He headed towards one of the doors and let go of my mom's arm. Taking hold of the doorknob, he turned it and slowly pushed it open. The inside was dark, but when he switched the light on a figure was curled up on the corner of the wall.

Oh my god.

"Trent, your mom is here to see you." Mom gasped and she made a move to approach him, but Bennett stopped her by placing his arm across her path. "Get out of my way!"

"It's a bad idea to spook an animal." He said.

"That's not an animal, he's my son!"

"Your son is a werewolf and the other night, he recently shifted, so right now he is very much more like an animal than your son. For your safety, I recommend you stand far away from him."

She slapped his arm away. "My son would never hurt me."

Bennett didn't protest this time when mom pushed her way into the small room. She took small cautious steps into the room and eventually I couldn't see her, because Vincent wouldn't let me get anywhere closer to Trent's confinement.

"I'm still mad at you." I heard Charlotte mutter at Vincent.

Gran looked him up and down. "Touch me and you will lose all feeling throughout your body."

Vincent nodded once and looked perturbed.

Inside the small room I could hear my mom making conversation. "Trent, honey. Are you okay. Why are you huddled like that? It scares me. Trent-

"Watch it!" Bennett screamed.

Mom streaked and I lunged to get inside the room, but Vincent had both Charlotte and I off the ground and dangling on his arms. He held us like sacks of rice.

"Vincent, do you want me to hate you more than I do?" Charlotte yelled and Vincent looked internally troubled, but he didn't let us go.

"I can't." He said pained.

Mom screamed again, but this time, it was more like a cry. "What the hell have you done to my boy?"

The creepiest thing ever; the frame started talking. "Alpha would you like back up?"

"I got this! Just hang on!" Ironically, the frame stayed hanging on.

What sounded like an animal snarled viciously and a loud crash against the solid wall rocked the door. The guys behind the wall must be having a theater day watching all this. I wouldn't be surprised if the smell of popcorn scented the room.

"Do you believe me now? Your son is a werewolf!"

"Oh my god!" Mom screamed as if the world was ending before her eyes. "Oh god, he's become disfigured!"

"Shut up! Your screaming is only aggravating him more! He's shifting into his wolf, we have to close the door!" Bennett had her by the back collar of her shirt when hastily running out of the room. He turned around and bolted the door shut and Trent slammed into the surface shaking the iron hinges.

"Was that evidence enough for you?"

Mom was heaving hard and slumped against the wall. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and sweat dripped from the side of her forehead.

I clawed my out of Vincent's grasp. "Let go, she's going into shock!"

"What else is new?" Bennett muttered.

Going down on my knees, I helped mom up to a better sitting position. "Mom, breathe slowly."

"How did this happen?" She mumbled.

"We should get her somewhere comfortable." Charlotte kneeled on the opposite side, also hovering over our mom.

"I'll help carry her." Vincent said.

"NO." Charlotte said stubbornly. "You've helped enough!"

Gran whistled. "Wow, Tracey...And you call me the overdramatic one. I think you need to calm down."

Mom didn't hear her. She was so lost in her thoughts, no one could get through to her.

Trent continued snarling and slamming his body into the door over and over.

"He's going to hurt himself." I muttered.

"Trent, looks just like Remington...so much like Remington." Mom repeated the name Dad's dog repeatedly until it was barely a whisper.

Bennett spoke softly as if talking to a nibble child. "What did that dog look like?"

She turned her head to him ever so slowly. "Just like Trent...Just like your black coated dog."

"You mean my son, Greyson?"

Mom grimaced. "They all look the same!" She shrieked.

Bennett kept perfectly calm. "Was this dog freakishly large? Was it aggressive? Did it prefer a certain diet?"

"Yes to the first two and I've never seen him eat. Nicholas always feed it himself, but he never spent anything for it at the pet store. I know because we always do the bills together. He never charged anything cash or credit for that dog. I asked my husband one time where he takes the dog to feed it. He said he would feed it our leftovers and laugh saying it was a joke. I ask further. My husband was intent on keeping it and it never interacted or harmed me or my kids."

Thinking back, I remember my dad sometimes taking it on long walks and he would come back with muddy shoes as if they had been running in the woods. Mom was always at work at the time, so she never knew that fact.

"By any chance, could that dog have been a werewolf?" Bennett said sharply.

Mom snorted. "I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if a dog turned into a person in my own house."

"Oh really, then how come you never noticed Trent being one either?" Gran snorted.

Mom shot a daggered look at her.

"Easy there. We don't want any more arguing. I'm already suffering from a dreadful migraine." Bennett rubbed his temples.

"You think you're the only one?" Mom crossed her arms. "I can't believe all this fictitious stuff is happening. I can't trust anything in this world anymore. Please tell me vampires aren't real too?"

Bennett paused for a second. "That's a whole other story, I'm not even sure of myself."

"If you tell me Dracula is real, I'm going to hop on a plane and go searching for him right now!" Gran exclaimed hopefully.

"What happened to leaving your house kicking and screaming?" Mom scrutinized.

Gran snorted. "I'm not leaving my house. I'll take a vacation, find the hunky bat and keep him here!" She turned to Bennett. "If any case I can't hold him, can I borrow one of your little rooms there?" She pointed at Trent's confinement.

Bennett clasped his forehead and shook his head. "What type of family did my son mate into?"

"Will my son ever turn back to normal?"

"By normal, do you mean human? Yes, he will turn back into his human form, however, now that he has adapted into his werewolf form he will stay a werewolf. But it is up to him to choose to join into my pack or become a rogue. I advise you to convince him to join my pack. Not only for your daughters' sake but for his own. In my world, once a wolf becomes rogue, he will be treated like a criminal all his life."

"So you want my son to join your gang." Mom didn't look happy about it.

"Pack. Your son will join my pack if he wishes. Though I doubt he would reject my offer, considering both your daughters are already part of my pack."

"Huh?" Charlotte shook her head. "I didn't agree to any membership. No one even asked me anything. Mom I swear, I didn't agree to anything."

I forgot no one clearly explained to Charlotte about the whole mating shebang, but neither did I understand the werewolf community rules and regulations.

Bennett pointed at Vincent who looked like he would rather be in a different room. "Vincent is your mate, therefore you two are meant to be together and Celeste is my son's mate."

Charlotte blushed, the same time Vincent faked a cough to hide his embarrassment.

"Hold on, my daughters can't be forced to these boys just because you say so. You can't play cupid with my children!" Mom seethed.

"I nothing to do with this arrangement. It is by fate that your children are intertwined with these boys. Something in your past is the key to why this all happened and that is what we need to figure out."

"We." Mom hissed. "We're a 'we' now?"

"How else am I going to find out without your cooperation?"

"Mom." I cut in. "I think it's for our best interest that you tell him as much as you know about dad and Remington."

"How is it in our best interest? I don't understand all this." She cried.

Coming up to her, I grasped both her hands and placed them above my heart. "Mom, do you remember that time when I was a kid, we talked about the time you first realized you liked dad?"

She smiled. 'I remember. You were fourteen years old and you told me you had a crush on that snobby kid down the street. Thank god, that infatuation didn't last long."

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. "You told me that when you realized you liked dad you noticed your heart would thumb harder than usual, and at the same time, he would also do things that would slow it down."

Her eyes softened as she looked at me carefully. "What are you saying, Celeste?"

I grinned and my cheeks flamed for what I was about to say. "I didn't realize it until recently, when Greyson saved my life. When I'm with him, my heart would thump so hard my stomach would flutter and my throat would tighten. I forget how to breathe. Then yesterday and today, seeing him hurt and having no power to do anything but watch, my heart feels like its dying. Mom. I think these feelings I have for Greyson, might become something like what you and dad had."

"I feel those things when I get heartburn." Gran mumbled.

"You are a mood killer." Bennett whispered next to her.

"And you need anger management." She spat and Bennett responded with a snarl. "Heel boy! Or no kibble for you." She added.

Mom tilted her head to the side and took her hands back, then gave me a good warm hug. Something I've missed for far too long.

"You're basically telling me you have feelings for a dog." She said with fake humor.

I chuckled. "Call it puppy love."

"That's seriously not funny Celeste."

"Sorry, I thought it might lighten the mood."

Mom sighed. "This whole thing well take a while getting used to."

"Believe me, I know. It took a while for me to get used to all this." I pulled away and looked her in the eyes. "Are you going to be alright? Do you think you can accept all this?"

She took a long hard breath. "Not right away, but you can't expect me to adjust to it quickly. I mean...It isn't everyday moms find out their kid is bonded to a dog-

"Werewolf. We are intelligent beings that are far more superior to humans." Bennett corrected.

"Aren't you all high and mighty?" Gran crossed her hands and glared up at him.

Bennett sighed and scratched the back of his head. "When our kids complete the bond, I hope this woman stays at her own house."

Next to me my mom's shoulders sag.

He chooses this moment to tell my mom about the bond.

"Bond, what does that mean?"

Oh please...don't explain it now.

"They will have a formal ceremony and then they will mate." He explains in a nonchalant manner, it sounded like he was describing the weather.

"Marriage. In simple terms that what you mean?" I could practically hear mom ticking. She was going to explode again. "Don't you think it's a little too early for that?"

Bennett shakes his head. "She obviously has feeling for my son. Celeste developed those feelings on her own and with their mate bond, it will strengthen. They will marry within the year and when Greyson turns 25, they have within a year to complete the tradition."

"And how is this tradition completed exactly?"

Deep within my gut, I knew what was going to come out of his mouth was not good.

I held my breath until he said...

"She gives birth to a son."

Then I screamed so loud, even Trent on the other side of that door shut up.

NOTE: Dec 24, 2016

HAPPY HOLIDAYS YOU FREAKISHLY AMAZING PEOPLE!!! I'M BACK!!! I've graduated and I'm ready to write again after a year of constant chaos. I have edited this book again so you will find some changes to the style of writing. This book has been closed off from the public but I have made it visible once more. SO YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL, you marshmallows! Let's make one thing clear though IF YOU COPY MY BOOK...I WILL FIND YOU.

BE WARNED. xo